Helios Injection Systems Brings Manufacturing In-House with Eurotech SwissTurn
If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right! Striving for excellence in every endeavor was the driving force behind Helios Injection Systems. In 2016, Helios sold their first pump and have since built a company that offers reliable and eco-friendly chemical injection systems for the oil and gas industry.
Reflecting on the founding of Helios Injection Systems, COO Mason Ware highlighted how much of Helios' core values are rooted in the sentiment, ‘If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right!’ Mason recounted a pivotal moment experienced by founder Dale Selman; while installing chemical pumps, Dale realized none of the pumps met the quality he knew he
could achieve. Mason stated plainly, “Dale had an epiphany that none of the pumps
were up to the quality of what he thought he could build.”
Motivated by this realization, Dale Selman decided he'd design one himself. "He took ideas from a lot of different pumps, combined them with his own new ideas, compiled
them all into one product, and Helios was born."
Dale’s drive and the production of a superior pump led to Helios swifly gaining traction. Fast forward two years, and the company was in full swing and increasing their production units, although Mason noted they began to encounter problems. “We designed our pumps ourselves and then outsourced the CAD engineering and manufacturing,” explained Mason, “but we were running into a number of problems, notably with quality issues arising from the CAD designs.”
Reflecting on this period, Mason stated, “Ultimately, we realized that we needed to
have complete control over the design engineering and streamline the process to
ensure precision and accuracy.”
To facilitate this change, Dale brought Mason onto the Helios team to fully bring the
design of their parts in-house. “I came onboard in 2017, and we spent several years
bringing all of the drawings in-house and redesigning every component on the pumps.” The job wasn't easy. After countless long days and nights, stretching over months, Helios completed their design overhaul by 2019. They had redesigned all their parts, and external machine shops were now able to manufacture them. Business was on the rise,
but then the pandemic struck. “If COVID taught us anything, it's that relying on a supply chain is horrible.” said Mason.
With business growing, Helios realized the outside shops they were using for production were being stretched by supply chain disruptions. To better plan for their manufacturing needs, Mason talked to their manufacturing suppliers about the production Helios needed. 'I walked into the shop and explained that we would need 20,000 of a particular valve in the
next year. The supplier explained the timeframe and indicated it would take one dedicated machine to run 13 months out of the year to meet that demand.” That’s when the light bulb went off. “Why not machine the part ourselves? And that’s when it all clicked.” said Mason.
The Challenge:
Bringing the manufacturing in-house would be a challenge. “We knew we weren’t machinists. We knew enough to be dangerous, but that’s about it,” Mason explained. “When we looked for machines, the number one thing we were looking for was a machine that was going to be set up and just run with minimal hands-on or maintenance. We also needed it to complete a finished part in one operation. We weren’t going to have another machine for a second operation, so it was really important that the one machine created the finished part from beginning to end.” Given the variables presented by helios, they knew their requirements not only for the right machine but for expertise were going to be essential.
The Solution
Mason Ware recalls, 'We were looking at a couple of different machines, but then we were turned onto Eurotech thanks to Stan Sallee at Kansas-Oklahoma Machine Tools, Inc. (KOMT). Stan told us about Eurotech’s Turnkey Program. The engineering team at Eurotech would do a complete turnkey setup of our part in addition to training us on how to operate
the machine. That was exactly what we needed, i.e., a partner who could offer a complete solution — machine, setup, and training, so we'd have the shortest learning curve possible.' After reviewing our parts, Eurotech’s engineering team recommended the Eurotech SwissTurn: this model is a Hybrid Swiss sliding headstock machine with 32 or 42mm bar capacity, up to 30 tools (16 live/7 back), Y2 back work option. It embodies the pinnacle of precision engineering, designed for those who demand speed, accuracy, and power in their machining operations. 'The solution Eurotech provided was perfect and exceeded our expectations. We can produce our own parts in one operation with no rework, and no scrap rate; production capabilities soared. We're producing anywhere from 350-500 parts a day. We also have the ability to run lights-out and can hit 600 a day if need be,' stated Mason.
Mason Ware credits their success to the knowledge and expertise gained in their partnership with KOMT and Eurotech. Regarding operation and understanding of CNC machinery, Mason said, 'You can chalk up our success in coding and understanding how to run a machine to Scot Kintz (App Engineering Manager at Eurotech) hands down. We didn't go take any extra classes for that.' Looking to the future, Helios's growth trajectory is impressive. 'We're continuing to grow, we've actually got a new facility we're breaking ground on this year.'... a feat for any business.
And the Eurotech machine? It's been joined by two more. A decision that Ware states was a simple one from a financial perspective. “The ROI we’ve realized with manufacturing our parts in-house with Eurotech is unbelievable.” With their entrepreneurial spirit, the technology at their disposal, and the help of Eurotech, Mason has the view that the sky is the limit.
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